7/27/13 Cedar Point Trip Report

[Tuskin]

Will be visiting Cedar Point this Saturday for only the 2nd time ever. I know, I know, I have been living under a rock. Look forward to giving my trip report in a week. Any pointers for, whats to be, a extremely busy summer Saturday would be helpful.

[McSalsa]

Hey, if you think you are under a rock, I have never been, sadly. You already have 1 more CP trip than I do!

[TheBEASTunchained]

Have FUN! And the biggest tip I can give you, especially for a Saturday, is just to go and ride what you want. Don't go around looking for the shortest lines because there wont be any short lines on a Saturday in July at Cedar Point. If something looks fun go ahead and ride it, the amount of fun you have beats out the number of rides you take. The fun is what counts!

[coasterfanatic83]

I will be up there on the 27th as well! Hopefully the weather isn't too bad, because I'm taking my girlfriend up and she has never been to CP before!

[Tuskin]

^Ditto. Looking forward to it.

[JWAddington]

Fast Lane (Plus) ? Thats probably the only tip i could offer someone that has only been there one time, especially visiting on a July Saturday!

[RideWarriorAP]

Get on Maverick, Raptor, or Millennium as early as possible. Maverick would be first in my opinion considering that it has the longest wait of any ride in the park. Gatekeeper has a quick line even if the sign says 1 hour wait its more like a 20 minute wait. Now for Top Thrill, make sure you get a good look at where the line is. If you can see where the line ends from the launch side then do not get in! Go on Iron Dragon and you can get a better look of where the line is. Have fun tho!

[RideWarriorAP]

Fast Lane (Plus) ? Thats probably the only tip i could offer someone that has only been there one time, especially visiting on a July Saturday!

Agree. I go to CP at least 20 times a year, so for someone who only goes once in awhile then spending the extra money on Fast Lane is worth it. I have never purchased one before, but when I am in line for Maverick for an hour and I see people walk up those steps ahead of me then I get irritated lol.

[Tuskin]

Great tips, thanks fellas. I will look into getting the Fast Lane (Plus) passes. Maverick is one of my all time favorites so I am sure I will try to ride that first thing and hopefully one more time before we leave. Since I have yet to go on MF or TTD I will probably try to get those out of the way early as well.

[RideWarriorAP]

TTD first before Millennium

[Tuskin]

Specifically due to capacity, or because you think its a better overall ride? Just curious.

[Jr for Birdy]

Eat at Pinks. Mmmm! If you don't have tickets yet call Breakers and ask for a supervisor and sometimes you can get a sweet deal on a room and tickets with ERT.

[Tuskin]

This year, due to her graduating grad school and having to go through her 6 month basic training to get her licence in acute therapy, we decided to not buy passes to Kings Island like the norm. SO, we opted for the 2 parks 2 days deal at Kroger, which I must admit is a rather good deal, for 55 dollars. Being that we already went to KI this is the last trip on the schedule, until we go to Vegas at the end of September. All that said, long story short I should say, we probably wont be staying in a hotel unless the both of us are too pooped to try to drive 4 hours home. Thanks for the input though, I will have to try pinks. I do not believe I tried it when I was there a few years ago.

[JWAddington]

If you don't buy Fast Lane or Fast Lane Plus, wait to ride Gatekeeper until later in the day! On friday July 5th, at 6pm i waited 20 minutes for a front seat ride! The line for Raptor is shorter later in the day as well!

[jcgoble3]

If you don't buy Fast Lane or Fast Lane Plus, wait to ride Gatekeeper until later in the day! On friday July 5th, at 6pm i waited 20 minutes for a front seat ride! The line for Raptor is shorter later in the day as well!

Good advice. In general, start at the back of the park and work your way forward, because the majority of the public does the opposite. This will also give your tired feet a shorter walk to the car at the end of the day.

[Tuskin]

I think Maverick will be our first ride of the day so ill try to keep that in mind. Thanks!

[RideWarriorAP]

Specifically due to capacity, or because you think its a better overall ride? Just curious.

Capacity. The line takes forever. Millennium can speed up quickly.

[Tuskin]

Good to know, ill maybe try to hit that one first or second then.

[Tuskin]

The Trip (this will be long, and unfortunately I have no pictures due to the rain)

We got up bright and early, 6am to be exact, to get ourselves in shape for the 4 hour car ride. We decided to check the weather before we left being that it was suppose to rain. It looked like a whole lot of rain but considering it was just suppose to be a slow steady rain we decided to make the haul anyway. We got up there a little earlier than expected, thanks to my stellar driving no doubt , so we stopped at the local McDs for some breakfast. Figured we would save some money that way. We proceed to the park at exactly 955am entering through the parking lot gates at 10:03am.

The Park Entrance

Before we can even enter into the park the onslaught of down pouring rain begins. Not something we were really hoping for. We expected nothing to be open due to the rain, but to our surprise we saw both Gatekeeper and Millennium Force both running. We were optimistic. We decide to run for the gates, not knowing what lied ahead. After getting through the gates, while making our way through ankle deep puddles throughout the parking lot, we were drenched. We saw nearly everyone had Cedar Point Blue Ponchos on, so we decided to go get some ourselves. Expecting them to be outrages prices, I was pleasantly surprised that they were only 5 dollars. Expecting Gatekeeper to be the longest line we decided to head for Millennium Force first.

Millennium Force

Our first ride of the day. The wait time was non-existent, at least for a ride like Millennium Force which constantly has longer than normal wait times. A measly 20 minutes is all it took for us to ride Millennium Force, in the front row mind you, during the onslaught of rain. Very surprised to say the least. *Funny side note. My wonderful 5 dollar poncho I had bought? Yea, that had a little incident on the first ride of the day. Evidently, regardless of my acknowledgement at the time, the poncho had flew out from behind the seat and was flapping in the wind behind me the entire ride. Making me look like i was wearing a super-hero cape. Now the funny party of this being that it evidently had got wrapped up in the girls face behind us the entire ride. The girl was complaining and moaning about me ruining the ride for her, again while I had no idea this had even happened. I said I was sorry and didn't really worry about it expecting her to be exaggerating it a little. Once we had got off and to the picture booth, it was only then to my surprise that I couldn't be anymore wrong. The poncho had literally wrapped itself entirely around her face. It was probably the funniest picture I have ever seen in my entire life. I regret not buying it. I even had a evil smirk on my face in the picture, it was just the funniest thing I have ever seen. We laughed about this for the rest of the day.

Maverick

After that fiasco my poncho had seen better days. We had to jimmy rig it up for the rest of the raining day. We headed to Maverick, being as it is my favorite ride at Cedar Point I was really hoping for it to be open. We head back and see the line starting near Chic Fil A. My optimism had left the window at this moment as I knew what that meant, but people in front of us had said they are going to be opening it up soon so we sticked around. Only for the rain to get worse and them to say they have yet to complete morning procedures, and I know from many experiences that they have to have zero rain for them to do morning procedures. We decided to go find something else to ride and come back to this later.

Flat rides (fair style)

I am not going to go into specifics on what flat rides we rode, as I do not know the names of them. Being that the only 2 other roller coasters open at the time were Magnum XL and Gatekeeper we decided to spend some time riding the flat rides they have. We never really ride those as we usually are so concerned with riding the roller coasters. To my surprise we actually had a lot of fund riding these. I don't know if it was because of the rain ruining our fun for everything else, but it was very nice to have a fun relaxing few rides we wouldn't normally ride.

Gatekeeper

We decided to head to Gatekeeper to see how the line was since it was one of the few roller coasters open. The line was at least 3 hours long so we decided against it. At this point we were so ridiculously wet that we were not even thinking about staying any longer. We decided to grab some lunch at Johnny Rockets and hope some of this rain would pass over. It didn't.

Leaving the park

We decided that maybe it just wasn't in the cards for us today so we decided to just cut our losses and leave. We were miserable anyway. Luckily on the way out I decided to have us get our hands stamped just in case. Expecting us to not come back though. Once we get to the car I pulled out my phone and checked the weather, again just in case. It showed that the storm had pretty much all but passed us. So we waited in the car for 30 minutes or so to try to dry off and hope the weather radar was right. It was. We headed back into the park just after 2pm.

Top Thrill Dragster

We saw TTD doing test runs on our way back in and immediately headed that way. I am not particularly fond of heights so this one scares me, I have never rode it. We went and saw a line outside, similar to how Maverick was earlier. We waited in that line for about an hour and thirty minutes. A lot shorter than I have ever seen it. At about this time they opened the ride up, after countless test runs, without people and with employees. I think they tested this thing more than I have seen any coaster test before in my life. They opened it up and we had to wait exactly 7 trains before we got on in the front row. Professor Plum purple was our train color, and I can honestly tell you I have never been so scared in my life. I love roller coasters but I hate heights. My girlfriend said she had never seen me so white in her entire life. I was ghost like almost. I enjoyed it but I don't see the point in waiting 4+ hours for a 17 second ride.

Maverick

We went back to ride Maverick after dreading the entire TTD debacle I wanted to come back down to earth on a smaller but more fun roller coaster, at least imo. It was the longest wait of the day. It was nearly a 2 hour wait but being that it is my favorite ride there we waited. Unfortunately 1 hour into the wait it started raining again. It was a slow mild rain luckily and 20 minutes later the ride was back up and running. We got off Maverick and to our surprise nearly everything became a walk on. I dont know what happened during that period in line for Maverick but it seemed as though everyone got fed up with the rain that had come back and left. Good for us.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride

This was a walk on as stated earlier. We walked directly onto the ride. It was a fun little ride after riding Maverick.

Gemni

Another walk on. I don't remember the last time I had rode Gemni but I really enjoyed it this time. We were on the Blue Train and somehow we got stuck with 2 trains that knew each other. That made for a very fun experience with the two trains racing each other while each train was yelling back and fourth at each other.

Magnum XL

We figured we might as well keep going down the line, it had been working out for us already. We waited only 20 minutes for Magnum XL, as compared to the earlier 2+ hours we were very happy with that wait. The end of the ride is getting so rough though. It hurt my back a little bit. Even the after ride picture showed I was showing a face of pain haha.

Mantis

I had never really rode Mantis, until now. I had rode Chang at KK before it was moved, so I was expecting a similar experience. It has been quite a few years since I rode Chang and Mantis gave me a similar feel, that of meh. Stand ups just don't do much for me, but it was good to ride as she had never been on a stand up before.

Gatekeeper

We decided to go check on Gatekeeper to see if the line had shortened down like everything else. To our surprise it did. It only took us 35 minutes to ride, a lot better than the 3+ hour wait tag it had on it earlier in the day. I was also very happy with how fast the line moved. We were almost constantly moving the entire line, a major people eater CP desperately needed imo. I really enjoyed this ride. I know many people have experienced discomfort with the harness but I actually really liked the harness. Now, I am not a big person I am rather skinny so that could be part of it but The girlfriend who is quite a lot shorter than me didn't have any issues with the height either. Going through the keyholes of the entrance gate was a really cool effect. I quite enjoyed that.

*At this point it was getting late and we had decided to ride one more ride depending on the wait times. Being as Maverick is my favorite we decided to check on it and hope the line was short, it was but wasn't.

Maverick(round2)

I was ecstatic that the last ride of the day was going to be Maverick. I was even more ecstatic that I was going to get to ride it twice in a day, and even more so being at night. The line was a little longer than we had hoped, just over an our, but we decided to ride it anyway, even though that would put us at 1130 or so by the time we got out and we had the long trip home. It was even better the 2nd time. Riding it at night, something I had never done before, was a great new experience to the ride. I really loved it, especially shooting out of the tunnel.

From here we left the park and started our long journey home, not making it home until just past 3am. What a long day, but worth it in every aspect. I am really happy we decided to stick through the rain.

Edited for time corrections.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for the TR Tuskin! Sounds like waiting out the rain paid off!

[Tuskin]

Yea, I am real happy we didn't waste all of that money for nothing.

[CP&LERR Fan]

Ride the train and take photos as you can tell I'm a fan of their railroad. Oh wait you already went.

Edited July 29, 2013 by CP&LERR Fan

[YoungStud]

great report bro, you decided to skip raptor?

[Tuskin]

^ Yea, we thought about heading over there but we just never made it. The rain had us limited to certain rides. As I had stated before she had never been and to be honest the only inverted roller coaster she has ever been on is in fact Invertigo, even though that is not a full circuit. I also have been fueling the fire that I think we are getting an inverted coaster at KI, she decided she would rather ride other things that KI doesn't have, or probably wont be getting next year instead and if KI does get an inverted full circuit then to have that be her first real inverted coaster she has been on. I liked Raptor when I rode it a year ago though, a little rough on the head but I liked it, I sat front row though. I am one of the few that actually likes to see whats going on and look at things, I feel with inverted coasters you don't get to see that much. I am a visual person.

CP&LERR Fan

I am a fan of trains myself. I love them. We didn't get to ride it though. Next time I will have to make time for a ride

Edit - to reply to CP&LERR Fan

[coasterfanatic83]

I was there that day as well! My mini trip report:

• Mean Streak - trims = Good
• Millennium Force + rain = Painful
• Winning tweetups = Fun
• Fast Lane = Good idea
• Pink's = Delicious
• CP Dodgems > KI Dodgems
• Taking someone to a new park for the first time is fun for both of us. Girlfriend's top 5: Maverick, MF, Gatekeeper, Magnum, TTD/Mean Streak

[Tuskin]

Completely forgot to talk about Pinks. Pinks is really really good. I was surprised. Being a Cincinnati boy growing up on Kahns I was skeptical, but Pinks made me a believer.

Side now, Mille in the rain is dreadful. I could barely keep my eyes open at all during that ride.